


Clandestine Hickeys

by Lilmizzhugable13



Category: Bob's Burgers (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Consensual Infidelity, F/M, Infidelity, Older Characters, Teenagers, Tina likes hickeys, cause fuck Jimmy Jr., hickey fetish?, if that's a thing?, in this house we stan Zeke, mild Tina/Jimmy Jr., not Jimmy Jr friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26915284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilmizzhugable13/pseuds/Lilmizzhugable13
Summary: "What does he see in her anyways?"Or the one where Tina is starting to realize she deserves SOOOO much better, but she's slowly realizing it cause teenage hormones.
Relationships: Tina Belcher/Jimmy Pesto Jr., Tina Belcher/Zeke (Bob's Burgers)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 76





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I always thought Zeke would never start an affair with Tina, but after seeing the UFO episode, it's definitely a possibility and I had to write it down. Idk if I'm gonna updated it with more (I mean I'm writing more but who knows if it's gonna be publishable).
> 
> Anyways, enjoy this for whatever this is. Stay hydrated y'all.

What does he see in her anyways?

She asks him one day.

It takes him a long second to respond, so long that Tina’s not sure he even heard her even though she spoke right into his ear. Then again, she could only mumble it, too focused on the sensation on her neck. And maybe he’s too focused on her already bruised skin - small red patches Jimmy Jr. left from a quick make out session in the janitor’s closet. He always used too much tongue to leave an actual mark, but he seemed determined that day. Tina was over it when they crossed the three-minute mark; too much saliva and lips.

No, she likes this right here. Loves it. Zeke is all teeth and pressure. He bites, pulls, sucks, and it makes her body hum. She practically sings a symphony, one that lasts the - seconds? minutes? hours? - he takes to leave an impressive purple mark.

Tina stares at it for hours after, and through the night, her fingers can’t stop pressing it. It hurts, still so fresh and sore, but the pain sends a shiver down her spine and makes her toes curl. It’s right at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, back enough that it’s easily hidden by her shirt, but she still feels naked walking into school the next day. Everyone’s staring at her, or her neck at least. No one, not even Jimmy Jr., bothers to look one inch down. No one but Zeke.

She only sees him for 40 minutes that day at that one class they share together. In true nerd-troublemaker fashion, she sits in the front and he sits in the back. However, she finds that she can’t pay attention. Instead, she focuses on the mark and how it seems to be burning through her shirt. It pains her, not in a literal sense because she has long learned that she loves to hurt herself, but the fact that the mark is already healing makes her stomach churn. And then her head hurts because she can’t stop thinking about how stupid it is to mourn over a bruise. She’s bonded with a number of things before, but that was because she was a hormonal teenager. This weird issue was supposed to be left in middle school. Still, the thoughts don’t stop her from reaching over with her right hand and pressing. The sensation’s the same, maybe a little more intense with the burning, but her toes still curl, her thighs still clench, and she holds her breath.

The bell rings, and while she releases the pressure, she doesn’t move her hand - not even when she makes eye contact with Jimmy Jr., not when she makes eye contact with Zeke, and especially not when Jimmy Jr. looks between the both of them. Jimmy Jr. looks like he wants to say something, but Tina gathers her stuff quickly and goes to her next class that’s on the other side of school.

The walk there, she wonders if he knows. Or if he at least has his suspicions. But Tina knows better. She knows that Jimmy Jr. doesn’t care enough to wonder if she’s cheating on her. If anything, he’s wondering why Zeke was giving her so much attention in class instead of listening to his efforts on perfecting a new dance move. It makes her want to tell Jimmy Jr. the truth. She spent English class imagining how he would react. Would he get angry? Maybe. Sad? Probably. Turned on? No, he’s not that type. Betrayed? Most definitely.

It almost makes her throw up.

The pit stays in her stomach, even when she gets pulled into another janitor’s closet after school. She doesn’t say anything, doesn’t want to call out the wrong name, but when a calloused hand grabs hers and moves it away from the mark, she breathes, “Zeke.”

“I’ll keep doin’ it as long as ya like, just don’t do it t’yourself. ‘Kay?”

She only nods. And that night, she doesn’t press on the mark. Instead, she scratches the bandage. It leaves a dull ache, a phantom of whatever fulfillment she achieved earlier that day. The burning is still there, but the aloe vera does its job, even if it’s dried and crusty.

She’s so frustrated. It makes her huff and press her heels into the mattress because that’s all she can do. The rest of her family sleep, unaware of the shifting world that Tina experiences: one where thoughts of Zeke, not Jimmy Jr., settle a warm feeling in her chest.

They’ve been doing this thing for years now, and while Zeke has nothing on the time her and Jimmy Jr. had, Tina can’t penalize him for it. Jimmy Jr. has a head start (after all, he was Tina’s first crush, kiss, and love all together), but Zeke’s right there. He’s always been there, Tina’s realizes, running the same race and jumping the same hurdles. _He’s right there._ And he’s getting closer and closer to the same place Tina holds Jimmy Jr.

But what the _fuck_ does he even see in her? Why is he okay with a few secret moments in dark corners, cause Tina sure as hell isn’t okay with them. The pit in her stomach reminds her of that, of how horrible she is for not only doing this to Jimmy Jr., but those moments in the closet remind her of why she never tells Zeke to stop.

_‘Just don’t do it t’yourself. ‘Kay?’_

God, isn’t that the most romantic thing Tina’s ever heard?


	2. Chapter 2

It’s another afternoon in a janitor’s closet. This time, it’s Mr. Broncha’s because that's the only one with a working lock and she needs the privacy.

Jimmy Jr. cancelled another date, didn’t even have the audacity to tell her. Instead, he ignored her during lunch and only spoke with Tammy, making plans to meet up after school and get drunk off the leftover wine in his dad’s restaurant. Jocelyn was invited, so was Zeke, but Tina was ignored even though she was  _ right. there. _ sitting next to Jimmy Jr. So when the bell rang, Tina dumped her plate and grabbed Zeke before class.

“Woah, T. Wanna tell me what’s goin’ on?” he asked, but she didn’t listen to him because if he really wanted to talk, he could’ve easily stopped her. Instead, he lets her drag him down an empty hallway, into the empty closet, and onto her. He doesn’t say anything else; his mouth only moves when it’s against her skin. He doesn’t remove the bandage, choosing to bruise the skin around it, and when Tina pulls his hair, he follows.

He trails up her neck, untouched by Jimmy Jr. for a whole week. It’s virgin skin, something Tina realizes with a shameful satisfaction, something Zeke seems to realize a beat after she does. He’s relentless, ravaging her neck like he’s never done this before, like he’s forgotten how to do this. It’s rough and unskilled and wet, and it leaves her breathless. There isn’t enough oxygen in the closet to stop her head from spinning.

But then he stops short of her lips, and Tina takes a deep breath.

It’s a boundary she placed the first time they started doing this. She had just watched Pretty Woman, and Julia Roberts made a very convincing case about only kissing people you care about. Kisses were for love, intimacy, and connection.

But fuck that. Today, kisses are for revenge.

She’s the one who drags him down, and he follows willingly. Enthusiastically. His kisses are just like his hickies: teeth and pressure, tearing into her mouth and bruising her lips. He likes using his tongue, just like Jimmy Jr. - but unlike Jimmy Jr., he lets Tina take charge. It’s give-and-take, and it’s not until Tina has Zeke pressed up against the door that she realizes how much she’s given and how little she’s received.

She’s starved, craving the taste, touch, and sensation Zeke is giving her. It’s their tongues sliding together, their hands entangled in each other’s clothes, their bodies stumbling into shelves and cleaning equipment.

It’s the door swinging open and Mr. Broncha gaping at them. It’s the way she walked into her class half an hour late, all eyes staring at her flushed face and swollen lips and bruised neck. It’s the whispers that circulate the school that very moment.

It’s how Jimmy Jr. refuses to meet her eyes when they (along with their siblings) walk home together.

Kisses are vindication.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I genuinely don't know where this is going, but enjoy the ride.

She’s on a date with Jimmy Jr. a week after the rumors started. He’s the one who asked her, promising a romantic night of just the two of them. They go to his dad’s restaurant, do the Lady and the Tramp thing with a bowl of fettuccine, go to Wonder Wharf, and ride the ferris wheel. He’s possessive the entire time, keeping an arm wrapped around her waist and staring down any guy dares to breathe in her direction. When they stop at the top of the ferris wheel, Jimmy Jr. grips her neck and pulls them together, dangerously rocking their cart with every rough movement.

Any other time, this would do it for Tina; instead, her eyes fall open and she keeps them on the stars.

She thinks back to how this mess started, when she was paired up with Susmita for the science fair, how they were stupid enough to believe they actually contacted aliens and doomed the Earth. She remembers how she ran down the hall, her mind set on kissing Jimmy Jr. She kissed him like he’s kissing her right now: too much saliva on her part, but she just wanted to memorize every inch of his mouth. If it left him with a dripping chin, who cared?

Then she ran, paying no attention to where she was going. Maybe she was running to her siblings, but none of it mattered when she bumped into Zeke.

“Aw screw it,” she said before kissing him with as much determination as with Jimmy Jr. it wasn’t anything special, just a pair of lips and another tongue. Zeke was more responsive, but just barely. Instead, Tina worked his lips (bigger than Jimmy Jr.’s) and plundered his mouth (hotter than Jimmy Jr.’s) and left him just the same - amazed, cause Tina knew how to kiss (for a thirteen year old).

She didn’t expect anything to come out of it. Maybe a little bit more commitment from Jimmy Jr., but definitely not anything from Zeke.

“Apoca-LIPS!”

She didn’t expect to continue this for another two years, and she didn’t expect herself to think about it in the middle of making out with Jimmy Jr. It’s a bit sad, really, that she’s not satisfied with this. She has Jimmy Jr.’s full attention for the time being, but she can’t enjoy it because all she can think about is UFOs. Maybe she should write about aliens. The butt-probing trope is right there.

“You know I’m the only one who will ever like you, right Tina?” he tells her when he’s dropping her off at her house, and Tina just sighs and agrees because she’s tired and wants to go to her room.

She takes a hot shower, but it’s not enough to wash Jimmy Jr. off her body. She throws her date clothes to the bottom of her hamper and goes straight to her room. She avoids her family, giving them the excuse of finishing homework which they seem to accept easily enough. She drops on her bed, her head smashing into the pillow. Her nose hurts from the impact, but it gives her something to focus on for a few moments before her mind goes back to Jimmy Jr.

That’s nothing new for him, she knows that. He’s been telling her that only he can love her for years now, and to her thirteen-year-old self, it was the same as a proposal. She didn’t want anyone else but Jimmy Jr. to love her anyways. The line has lost its charm throughout the years, and now that she’s seventeen, that promise makes her skin crawl. She expects these kinds of words from him, but she’s so tired of them.

Is Jimmy Jr. really all she can hope for?

_When I see you I fall apart, like a zombie._ Ugh, she needs to change her ringtone. Her Boyz4Now-phase ended a year ago.

Reaching to her nightstand, she grabs her phone and opens it. She knows it’s Jimmy Jr. Who else would call her? She hums into the phone. 

_“Heya, T-Bird.”_

Tina rolls onto her back. “Zeke? Why are you calling me?” She pulls her phone from her face. Yep, it’s Zeke.

_“Jimmy Jay’s told me ‘bout y’alls date,”_ he says. He sounds different on the phone, gruffer. Nervous, maybe? She can’t tell that well; she’s never been good at reading someone’s tone. Tone-deaf. She lets herself feel some satisfaction at the pun. _“Just wanted ta make sure you’re a’right.”_

“I’m fine,” she says, slowly sitting up on her bed.

_“How’s ya throat? Any bruises?”_ Actually, now that he mentions it, her throat’s a bit sore. She puts Zeke on speaker and opens her camera, turning it to front-view. And there they are.

There’s faint red marks lining the sides of her neck. Four on her left, one on her right; five in total. They would look like hickeys if it didn’t obviously look five fingers. Shit, did her family see them? “A few from his hands.”

Zeke sighs. _“Yeah, figured from what he was tellin’ me. Take care of '_ _em, Tina.”_

“I don’t know how,” she admits. “He’s never done this before.” Verbally possessive? Yes. Physically? No. And she doesn’t really know how to feel about this line Jimmy Jr. crossed.

_“Just do what ya do with mine.”_ Cold spoon, aloe vera, bandage. But...

“It’s not the same.” Tina can’t stop staring at her neck, even as her eyes water. “Yours are different.” She’s trembling, and oh my _God_ how embarrassing is this? 

_“Ya want me to come over?”_

“No.” It’s instantaneous. A little rude, but she doesn’t want to see anyone right now, especially not Zeke. “Can we hang out tomorrow?”

_“Ya got it, girl. Touch tank?”_ She can hear the smile in his voice. It makes her smile too.

“Yeah. I’ll buy the tacos.”


	4. Chapter 4

It’s not a date. It doesn’t matter if Tina remembers that time in Fishoeder’s maze where Zeke mapped out exactly what they’re doing as his idea of a date. It doesn’t matter if this afternoon with Zeke is better than the drugstore or yesterday’s date or any other place she’s been at with Jimmy Jr. It’s not a date because Tina and Zeke don’t go on dates. They hang out.

They hung out at the touch tank for a bit, made their way to the good Pancho’s Tacos, stopped by a gas station to get some slushies, and now they’re sitting on the steps, the same ones she was walking by when she met Josh again. She still runs into Josh every now and then, happy to see him working hard to be a professional ballet dancer. He’s happy and it’s infectious; whenever they meet, Tina forgets about bruises and closets and loneliness. Damn it, why couldn’t she have fallen in love with Josh?

She tugs at the turtleneck, trying to give her neck some air to breathe. It’s a hot day with no clouds in the sky, but it was either this or bandages. She’d rather deal with pit stains than a bandaid billboard that advertises _‘Hey I’m a whore and my neck proves it.’_

“Here, ya can finish mine,” Zeke says, holding out her slushie. Tina’s opens her mouth to protest, but Zeke beats her to the punch by placing the cup in her open hand and closing her fingers around it. He squeezes her hand once, twice, and smiles before letting go. He leans back, elbows resting two steps above the one he’s sitting in, and looks up. He’s wearing one of his wrestling shirts, the sleeveless one that clings to his broad shoulders. The shirt does things to her, especially when she remembers how it feels to wrap her arms around those shoulders. And how easily her long legs wrap around his strong stomach. And how effortlessly Zeke can carry her with two calloused hands on her butt.

Yeah, on second thought, maybe she needs this slushie. And if she chugs it down, well, she prefers the brain freeze over the swooning.

She lowers the cup and looks over at Zeke who hasn’t stopped staring at her. “What?”

He chuckles, a deep vibrato in his throat that Tina wishes she can feel against her lips. “Nothin’ ya just keep surprisin’ me.”

This time, she does swoon a bit. She can feel heat on her cheeks and _ohmygod_ is this what blushing is? It frazzles her, especially when Zeke’s smile widens, and Tina sees the red flags swinging behind him. This is bad, dangerous even. Zeke knows that, knows that this is one of the last remaining taboos in their whatever-this-is. Kisses are one thing; compliments are another, and Tina knows she can’t handle them. Whatever Jimmy Jr. says always has a backhanded edge, and Tina can deal with that. But this? Actual praise that insinuates something deeper?

Besides, during this entire shit, she’s never once thought about how Zeke must feel about this. He’s the one betraying his best friend for make-outs in closets and not-really-dates-hang-outs. She’s the one who’s attention-starved and unsatisfied with what she has; he’s perfectly content as far as she can tell, so why does he keep doing this?

She wants to ask him, wants to hear him pour his heart out on how his brain works to justify this, but because she’s Tina and has to make this all about herself, she instead asks, “What do you see in me?” God, can’t she come up with any new material?

At least Zeke isn’t preoccupied with her neck and hears her this time. “Why’d’ya keep doin’ this?” he asks her. Tina doesn’t have an answer, not yet at least, but it doesn’t matter because Zeke continues, “Sometimes, we keep doin’ things we pro’ly shouldn’t cause there ain’t a good ‘nough reason to stop.”

The words are sobering and painful, but she doesn’t tell him this. Instead, she drags him to the nearest alley and kisses the fucking soul out of him. And if their lips are redder by the end of it, Tina blames it on the slushies.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that? Do I really see...?
> 
> Holy shit yes. It's a little bit of plot. It's almost like I know where I'm heading with this story and this isn't just random paragraphs anymore.

Something changes after that ~~date~~ hang out. Nothing too outwardly - her and Jimmy Jr. are off again (no surprise there) so she spends more time with Zeke (again, no surprise). What is surprising is how they spend their time.

They make out. A lot. Never in school, not after Mr. Broncha made them swear to stay out of his closets, but they find time after school. Underneath the bleachers, in the chemistry class that’s always empty because it’s apparently haunted, against the wall that’s adjacent to the dumpsters. It’s not as private as a locked closet, but it doesn’t matter anymore to Tina because Jimmy Jr. isn’t dating her. Instead, he’s been hooking up with some senior named Tanya (if her livetweets are anything to go by). So Tina’s a bit more reckless with Zeke.

They always kiss. Now that she knows the taste of his lips, she doesn’t think she can only have them on her neck. She likes to think it’s the same for Zeke. No matter what they do, his eyes are locked on her lips, and fuck is it exhilarating.

They’re against the lockers in the gym. Zeke swears that the second thursday of every month is a rest day for every team, so they take their time. At first, it’s just kisses - slow, deep, languid. She’s the one who pulls him in closer, wraps her arms around his neck and plays with the hair at the nape. He places his hands on her hips, over her shirt at first before sliding under the hem. He nips her collarbone just like always. He avoids her neck, even though Jimmy Jr’s bruises have long healed, but she appreciates the sentiment. Really appreciates it.

Zeke has no limits. He gave Tina free range since the very beginning, and Tina has never taken advantage of it until now. Her favorite thing right now is his chest. Zeke rarely has the opportunity to take off his shirt, so she usually settles with whatever skin she can get to by stretching his collar. But today is different, and all she has to do is tug the shirt and say, “Off.”

It’s exciting, pressing a shirtless Zeke against the lockers. She can blame it on the teenage hormones or the public setting or the silver of danger, but she feels her body humming. Zeke’s always had a strong body, ever since they were younger, but Tina’s never truly appreciated it until now. The toned arms, full pectorals, hard stomach; it’s all so new compared to Jimmy Jr.’s lithe physique. Not that she’s ever had the chance to explore it. He’s always kept his clothes on and practically tore Tina’s off. It always made her feel uneasy on the best nights and sick to her stomach on the worst.

But right now with Zeke, she feels nothing but euphoric. And he just lets her have her fill, lets her kiss and nip and lick and bite anything she wants. His skin is addicting: the way the rough calluses feel against her lips, the way his sweat zings on her tongue, the way his chest rumbles in pleasure when she straddles the edge of possessive. God, it’s maddening, and Zeke’s not even hers, but maybe that’s why. Because there’s no way this would feel the same if they really start dating.

Right?


	6. Chapter 6

The first time he comes to the restaurant is something of an accident.

It’s two months of being off with Jimmy Jr., two months of catching glimpses of each other in the hallways and that one class they share. He’s too busy following Tanya around like a lost puppy to notice anything else. Tina thinks it’s funny for a moment, but then she realizes that’s how she used to follow him, and it’s not funny anymore.

But the less she sees of Jimmy Jr., the more she sees of Zeke. It starts small, a smile in the cafeteria, an arm around her shoulder when he walks her to class, carrying her backpack when they walk to their chosen makeout spot after school. Then one day, they just kept walking with no reason at first, but then Zeke wanted to take her to see this cool rock he saw one day and that’s it. And that’s dangerous because Tina is a hopeless romantic; she’s still holding out for her white knight to come riding in on a horse, and if she’s not careful, she might start thinking it’s Zeke.

So she resolves to put an end to it. She wakes up today and decides to go home with her siblings, probably tell Zeke some bullshit excuse about covering the restaurant. But of course, Gene decides to cut school after lunch for some breakdancing competition and Louise gets detention for tying together Tammy and Jocelyn’s hair and throwing a fake spider on them so there goes Tina’s security detail. And of course, when the school bell rings and students trickle out, Zeke’s waiting for her at the entrance, telling her about some stain he saw yesterday in the alleyway behind the pawn shop that looks exactly like the Boo-Boo and how she should take a picture and send it to Louise because she’d get a kick out of it. And Tina can’t find it in herself to say no because that’s who she is.

Thankfully, a text comes in. She pulls out her phone from her skirt pocket, and there on the cracked screen is a message from her mom. It’s a jumbled message, filled with spelling errors and weird spacing, but it’s simple enough: dad cut himself again and can’t stop fainting at the blood so mom needs them all back to handle the dinner rush. She thanks the restaurant gods looking over her.

It’s easy enough explaining it to Zeke. What’s difficult is getting him to leave. He walks her home despite her protests, and when he opens the door of the restaurant for her, he still doesn’t leave. He talks with her mom, laughs over her dad’s passed out body, helps lift him into the car all while Tina fires up the grill and starts prepping.

She doesn’t like looking at mom struggling to carry dad’s weight. It’s been happening more often, especially since dad refuses to go to an eye doctor. Not even Tina’s assurance that Dr. Lentes is nice and patient and incredibly handsome is enough to get through dad’s denial. Sometimes it isn’t enough for Tina either, but then the cuts happen or the falls or the bruises.

Her parents are getting old.

“Here, lemme help.” Zeke takes the knife from her, finishes chopping the tomatoes and onions before her mind thinks about something other than the grey hairs on her dad.

“No, it’s fine. I can handle the dinner rush.”

“Gene and Louise ain’t comin’ and I ain’t leavin’ ya by yourself.”

“But Zeke I’m-”

The bell over the door rings, and without hesitation, Zeke looks up and says, “Hey y’all! Welcome to Bob’s Burgers!” He navigates the tables easily, switching from hostess to server to busboy. He writes clearly on the ticket orders, knows all the lingo, and when Tina’s eyes need a break from grill steam, he offers to switch. Tina’s still a little awkward with the customers, but not enough to deduct from the tip.

Her mom sends one text fifty minutes into the dinner rush:  _ ER crowded, dad keeps fainting, be there late, love you pots _ and then  _ oops i meant lots _ and then  _ don’t smoke pot. _

Louise finally comes in at six-thirty, right when the dinner rush settles down. Gene doesn’t come home that night. Her parents get home sometime after midnight. Zeke was right; Tina wouldn’t have handled the diner rush by herself. Without Zeke, she would’ve spent the past three hours groaning in the kitchen, crying with every customer that walks out the door.

She dreams about that at night. It’s the restaurant and it’s the dinner rush except her dad is passed out by the front door, her mom by the back. Her siblings are outside, sitting on the sidewalk eating ice cream. The grill is on fire, the dishwasher is overflowing, the produce is rotting, and the customers are yelling. 

When Tina wakes up, she realizes she slept through two alarms. She goes to school without a barrette, wearing the same clothes she wore yesterday because she forgot to wash. She’s tired, she smells, she aches, and she’s done.

She gets to school a complete mess, but Zeke still smiles at her when she walks in. He’s leaning by her locker, holding a small white styrofoam cup.

“Swiped it from the teacher’s lounge. Made it how ya like it.”

Tina decides in her first class that she likes her white knights holding a cup of coffee instead of a lance.


	7. Chapter 7

It only gets harder from there. First thing she does when she wakes up is check her phone. Typically there’s a _good morning_ text from Zeke, then another that continues whatever conversation they had last night. She gets ready, taking twice as much time because she stops every ten seconds to reply to Zeke, eats a quick breakfast, and power-walks to school. She’s always a little sweaty when she gets there, but a damp forehead is worth the extra minutes she gets with Zeke before classes start. They’re usually by her locker, talking about meaningless things before the bell rings. Zeke walks her to every class, sits with her and her siblings for lunch, and waits by her locker when school ends.

What they do after school changes every day. Sometimes they go to the Aquarium and mess around the touch tank until their shirts are soaking wet. Sometimes they go to the Wharf and hang out with the carnies. Sometimes they just walk around mindlessly. Sometimes they just find a place to sit. But they never stop talking and laughing and living.

He always walks her home. Unless Louise gets in trouble or Gene disappears for some eccentricity, then Tina has the evening shift. Ever since her father’s accident, Zeke offers to help out in the restaurant as an extra set of hands. Most of the time her father refuses, but there’s those days where his arthritis gets to him or his vision blurs too much and he accepts. Tina’s left in charge of the grill, so Zeke typically stays on the other side of the window. Still, Tina watches him as he plots with Louise on whatever prank she’s planning and encourages Gene’s outlandish dreams. He stays behind to help Tina clean up, and it’s always so late when he gets to leave, so Tina calls him and talks to him until he’s home. Then they keep talking until they get too tired to pretend they’re not yawning.

It’s so mundane, a routine Tina dreamt of establishing with Jimmy Jr. when she was younger. She likes how carefree it feels, but she knows this won’t feel the same with anyone else. Zeke blends so well into her life which is an accomplishment itself. People have tried, but her parents are too intrusive and her sister is too conniving and her brother is too free. Boys have tried, but Tina just isn’t worth the effort. They’ve never told her that, not directly at least, but she knows.

But Zeke’s there, and somehow, he’s doing it. He’s talking shop with her father and drinks wine with her mother and listens to Boo-Boo’s new song to not talk about it with Louise and helps design props for Gene’s whatever-he’s-doing and listens to all of Teddy’s boring stories and laughs at all of Mort’s horrible jokes. He’s doing the impossible, and it all rushes to Tina’s romantic head.

And it would be easy, _so so so_ easy to accept it, to let Zeke be whatever her overzealous mind wants him to be, but she can’t. It’s _so_ good right now; it’s everything Tina’s dreamt about, but it’s _so_ fragile. It’s something Tina remembers whenever she walks into a room and all eyes turn to her, or when she walks by a group and they stop talking, or when she sees a vague tweet that is definitely about her. She doesn’t know what Jimmy Jr. told people about their break-up this time, and usually, it didn’t bother Tina because they always got back together and the words didn’t matter anymore.

Except Tina’s not sure if they are getting back together. She doesn’t think about Jimmy Jr., not really. A few fleeting thoughts when they pass each other in school, a wistful ache when he passes by the windows of his restaurant, but it’s not consuming. Not like Zeke.

Which is why it’s harder to kiss him. The opportunity is there, just as frequent as ever, but Tina always pulls away and Zeke never pressures her. It’s fleeting looks and soft touches and familiar spaces, and it’s so unsatisfying, especially since Tina knows how badly she craves their intimacy. She misses how his uneven breath felt against her neck, how her lips gently stuck to his damp skin, how their flesh easily gave into their desperate teeth. She wants the kisses. Needs them.

But she also needs the morning texts and the salt-water shirts and the late calls. She needs her parents to laugh with him just as easily as she does. She needs to watch the sly nods with her sister across the cafeteria. She needs to hear the brainstorming with her brother over the sizzling grill. She needs much more than she’s worth. And it’s terrifying to ask for both because she’s not that lucky enough to get them. And if she has to choose, she needs Zeke mopping the floors while she wipes the counter. She needs it more than the hickeys on her neck.

It takes a month of this routine, but finally, it gets easier. The urge to press Zeke against the nearest surface and jump on his bones is just as strong as ever, but it finally feels like the floor won’t be swiped from Tina’s feet.

Until it finally does.


End file.
